A Thorn in the Bramles
by appledash13
Summary: The story about a young cat. Her brother died in birth and her horrible things happen in her entire lifetime. But, this story of her life teaches her that in life you shouldn't wait for the storm to pass, you need to learn to dance in the rain.
1. Prologue

Prologue

"Wake up little kit." A warm voice greeted her ears as she lifted her head.

"It's a girl," another voice said, "One more now, were almost done."

She felt the warm tongue of another cat, licking her fur in the opposite way to warm her cold body.

She heard the gasp of another cat and a sob. She opened her eyes wearily and looked over to where the sound came from. There was a silver kitten with black stripes, most of them with curved edges instead of tips like the she next to her. She blinked in wonder, why was the kit laying on the ground and not moving around?

"One didn't make it." One of the cats said. She widened her eyes in fear and pain, feeling a strange moaring for this small kit, though she didn't know him, she didn't know anyone, but she could feel some of her soul go cold in a yearning for this cat to still be alive.

She felt a set of familiar paws on her back and small teeth on her ear. Instinctively she turned and fought back, stretching out her claws to swipe the kit in the face. The cat that spoke the most pulled the kit off of her and rested it on the ground.

"You have two wonderful living kits." It said. She tasted the air and smelled that the speaking cat was a male. "One is a male and one is a female." She looked over to the kit she was fighting with. Its smell was overwhelmingly male, and she knew that she was female.

"Look at him." Their mother said looking at her son. "He looks just like his father. I want to name him... Maplekit. From his maple colored fur."

She looked over at her brother. He had brown fur and brown with black stripes, these stripes ended with points, and he had more of them than the other kit did. He had dark brown eyes and little black tufts of the tips of his ears. He was licking his front left paw, proud of his new name.

"And look at this little sweetie. She looks like no cat. A combination of both her mother and father. She has dark blue eyes," she looked to the male cat who talked a lot, "neither of us have that."

She looked at herself. She was brown with blackish and whitish stripes. She had more black stripes around her eyes and tail. She had cream colored fur on the tips of her paws. She looked back up to who was so obviously her mother and mewed happily.

"Her fur reminds me of brambles. I will name her Bramblekit." Her mother said and then turned to her side so that Bramblekit and her brother, Maplekit, could suckle. The male cat picked up the limp kit by the scruff and tried to carry him away.

"Don't," her mother mewed, "I want to name him." The male rested him in front of her and she looked at him with her head to the side, "His fur is like mine. I want to name him... Pinekit. After his mother." She touched nosed with him and whispered, "See you in Starclan, my dear."

"That's a brilliant name, dear." A new cat said. He was a male, Bramblekit could tell. Bramblekit looked up at the male kit and saw his thick black coat. He had no tufts of black on his ears, just like Bramblekit and he brother, and deep, sea-green eyes. He looked down at Bramblekit's mother and licked the tip of her ear, trying to calm her down.

Bramblekit looked at the cats in the room in aw. _There are so many cats! _She thought to herself, _How will I __**ever **__remember them all?!_

When Bramblekit finished suckling she laid down next to her mother who started licking the fur on her head. She had pale grey color, with white stripes. Her light blue eyes sparkled with pride in her new kits, but also with sorrow for her deceased kit. She had cream color on the tips of her paws, ears, and tail. Bramblekit rested her eyes and felt her brother, Maplekit, settle down next to her.

_I'll see you in StarClan, Pinekit, _she thought, echoing her mother's words, _Whatever that is._


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Bramblekit sat up proud, beaming, as she heard her name echoed through Shadowclan

"Bramblekit! Bramblekit!" The whole clan repeated for her.

Her brother couldn't be here for her naming ceremony, he was in the medicine den with Spottednose, their medicine cat. She touched noses with her mother, Silverpine, as she was walking up to the medicine den. When she was almost at the entrance of the den a big black tom with tufts of black fur on the tips of his ears stepped in front of her, stopping her. His big brown eyes seemed to burn into her soul.

"Where are you going?" He sneered his razor-sharp teeth bared.

She purred when she rubbed her head against his chest, "Hey, dad. Just going to check on Maplekit."

Her father let out a low chuckle and bent down to whisper in her ear, "When your done meet me at the dirt place. I have a secret way out. Then we can take a walk together, just you and me."

Bramblekit beamed. She wasn't allowed out of camp, but her father was going to let her slip out of camp. She could hardly contain her excitement her paws jittered up and down and she trotted in place, her tail sailing back and forth.

"Nightfang!" Her mother yelled from across camp.

"Look at that, the mate's calling," he snickered, "I've better go."

Bramblekit giggled at her father as she padded slowly into the medicine den. She saw Spottednose, the ShadowClan's medicine cat, sorting herbs in the corner, with his back turned to Maplekit. She slowly crouched over to Maplekit and laid close to the ground next to him, the fur on her paws making her steps more quiet than any other clan cat.

"Should I scare him?" She whispered, looking into Maplekit's brown eyes. She flicked her ear, pointing it to Spottednose, just to be sure that he didn't know she was there.

Maplekit nodded and suppressed a cough. Bramblekit crouched in a stalk and walked behind Spottednose. She leaped on his back and yowled in his ears. Spottednose let out a yelp and fell to the ground, dropping his herbs.

Maplekit let out a weak laugh and then a cough, watching with weak, drooping eyes.

"Help me clean this up now, you pesky kit," Spottednose teased, "Or you'll be checking the elders for ticks."

"Don't we have apprentices to do that?" Bramblekit snapped back, sticking her tongue out at Spottednose.

"I'm sure they'd be willing to share their duties." Spottednose said, beginning to clean up all of the leaves.

Bramblekit started cleaning up the herbs with her claw and gave them to Spottednose when she was done. She skipped up to Maplekit, holding her brown tail high, the black stripes on her tail bobbing up and down as her tail did.

"So," she began, "feeling any better?" she said as she laid next to him on the soft ground. She licked his ears comfortingly and smiled at him.

"Fine," he began, cut off by a rough cough, "I am rather thirsty though." he spoke with a hoarse voice.

"I'll get you some wet moss!" Bramblekit exclaimed, remembering how she was going to go outside of camp today. She stood, ready to bolt out of the den and sprint to the dirtplace.

"And how are you going to do that? You are only a moon old, and not allowed out of camp." Spottednose looked down at her with narrowed eyes, suspecting she was up to something that she wasn't supposed to be, as usual.

Bramblekit shuffled her paws and looked at the ground, "Oh, I figured I could ask da- I mean Nightfang to get some for him." She turned to her brother and licked his warm nose, "See you later, Maplekit!" she meowed racing out of the den. She could hear his weak reply as she left. He sounded so helpless.

When Bramble kit had so easily snuck past all the others and slipped into the dirtplace the only one who could've taken her by surprise was her father.

"Bramblekit! You came," He started, making Bramlekit jump a bit, "I was beginning to think you had forgotten."

Bramblekit purred and walked up to her father, "Maplekit seems to be getting worse. He wants some water."

"And I suppose it would be nice if we brought him a nice juicy mouse," Nightfang said, nudging Bramblekit on the head, "we better get going, wouldn't want to get in trouble, now would we?"

Bramblekit nodded and silently followed him through a small hole on the side of the dirtplace. She slipped through it after her father and ran behind him as he sprinted into the black night.

When they had gotten to a bush of brambles Bramblekit realized that there was not really a way through them. Her father didn't slow a bit before leaping over the brambles and continuing on, not waiting. Bramblekit took a step back and leaped. She crashed right next to the end, into pointy brambles. _How ironic. _She thought with anger, mostly feeling pathetic for not being able to clear the bush.

Her first impulse was to screech for help, but she didn't want to get in trouble. She slithered her way through the brambles, leaving a deep scratch on her side. Blood seeped from the wound and pawed at it to see how bad it really was. She lifted her paw, only to realize that it was soaked in blood.

She looked left and right, in search of her father, attempting to ignore her scratch. She tried to sniff the air to search for his sent, but all she could smell was blood. She stopped panicking and relaxed her muscles. She inhaled deeply through both her mouth and nose. The air was thick with blood, but she caught a slight sent of her father. She suddenly sprinted towards the smell, chasing it like a bloodhound.

She was stopped by a small stream, after running towards the sent for a while. She saw a tree with moss on it and knew she couldn't go back to camp like it. She scratched it off and wrapped it around her wound, just as she had seen Spottednose do one day when she was in the medicine den with another warrior, when she was talking with Maplekit. When she was done her legs buckled of exhaustion and she fell to the ground. She crawled over to the stream for a drink and saw a fish swimming in it. Her body, re-energized by curiosity, raised into a crouch. She swiped a paw in the water and cool water splashed on her face, the fish darting to the other side of the stream.

"That was a good try," came a familiar voice from the tree. Her father leaped from the tree and sat by her side, "You left your shadow on the stream through."

Bramblekit was happy that her father was here to share this moment with her, but then she had realized that he had tried to abandon her.

"Why'd you leave me?" she practically whispered, her ears pointed towards the fuzzy green ground.

"I wanted to see if you could do it yourself," he said, "I knew you could do it." He rubbed his head against Bramblekit's as he spoke.

Bramblekit purred with happiness, but felt hollow inside. She longed for her bother to be here, to be running on this uncharted land with her and her father. 'When will he be better?' she asked herself.

"So, now. Your brother needed dampened moss, yes?" Nightfang asked, "Why don't you get some while I grab a mouse or toad. Then when I come back I can teach you how to grab a fish!" He said, winking at Bramblekit, and with that he ran off back into the territory of Shadowclan.

Bramblekit stripped more moss off the tree and dipped it in the water. She saw a kit, about her age on the other side of the stream. She mewed aloud to try to get him to speak, but he sat there. His fur was completely gray. She had recognized this kit.

"Pinekit?"


End file.
